University fees about to increase

[Onemorestepintheworld]

An announcement is expected today. www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/c0qdgndz5wzt Any bets? I reckon £12k pa

I thought it was already released at £10.5k ?

I’d bet on inflationary (ish) increase, but with scope for annual increases thereafter. So still some way under £10,000 for Sep 2025 starters.

Plus of course this relates only to England, as dictation is a devolved matter.

I read £9500 from 2025, rising to £10,500 by 2029. So not a drastic change. It isn't yet clear as to whether it will apply to new students only or to existing students - previous rises have only applied to new students while existing ones have stayed on the old rates.

Universities probably won't be thrilled with what is a relatively small rise after having been frozen for 8 years. It won't fix their financial difficulties. But I guess some increase is better than no increase.

From the perspective of the students, I don't think the increase is that big a deal in light of the total amount of debt that they're facing.

Very, very unlikely to be applied to existing students @MrsBennetsPoorNerves . Bit like when we had the jump to £9,000 from £3,000 it only applied to new students.

in more immediate terms maintenance loans and thresholds are the much bigger issue for students and families. We’ll find out if that is to be addressed at all.

At around 16:15 it would seem

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2024/11/04/raise-university-tuition-fees-2025-starmer/

Well I hope they also increase the maintenance loans to match.

It's a difficult balancing act. On the one hand, universities are in a difficult situation - costs are rising and income from international students has been dropping. But let's not forget that course fees are still a loan ultimately financed by the tax payer - just increasing to £12,000 in the short term would seriously affect the national balance sheet. Also, it could have a perverse effect on universities if students dropped out of their degrees. Let's wait and see what's announced at today before getting all anxious.

Don't forget that for many students, the amount the fees are are irrelevant because it doesn't change how much they pay back, which was doubled for many a year or two ago and hardly anybody noticed.

The amount students fail to repay has been decreasing for years. It's currently down to 27p in the £1 because of the changes to the plans - higher repayments over longer - so it's not as simple as "well it doesn't matter as most don't repay". Most do repay.

Thank god they are increasing though. Universities are in a shit show due to the conservative government freezes with almost half reporting a deficit this year. It costs about £3K a year more per student to teach them than they pay for, this couldn't just go on. Not to mentioned falling international student numbers because of the anti-immigration rhetoric and the fact they count as migrants (nuts when most are temporary), higher costs including research costs, more reporting needed which costs more, and the fact that after 2030, the number of 18yos is going to fall putting income at risk.

I only wish they were rising more if we're going to have fees (whole other debate). £10.5K still means the fees are worth less than when they were introduced in 2012. Plus the average cost of a private primary education is over £15K now, are we really saying higher education is/should be cheaper to provide?

15K is average for secondary not prep. Prep average would be much lower.

I'd want a lot more than the 6 hours a week of lectures, 1 essay a term that my first degree consisted of for that much money.

No, it's primary https://www.thetimes.com/money-mentor/income-budgeting/family-finance/how-to-afford-private-school-fees#:~:text=The%20majority%20of%20private%20school,or%20%C2%A317%2C562%20a%20year

I'm on the fence - I think the system needs an overhaul - may we need to reduce universities?

Really can’t see the initial increase being to £10,500 @Flatleak But we’ll find out the figure within the next half hour or so.

TBH - University offer very little in terms of tuition etc. Some course are charging full time fees for only 1-2 days contact time.

Given the rationale for the fee increase is inflationary costs, I think it's only fair they increase the maintenance loan.

I think that may happen anyway.

Drop in birthrate
Fewer enticements for international students to come to UK
More enticements for UK students to go overseas
Lots of kids thinking it's not worth it.
2 year degrees will become massively more popular
Living at home will become more popular

Unsurprising. They are adding vat to independent schools. Make sense they will go for the university system too.

£9535, up £285

And applied to existing students as she said it is being introduced in April 2025? Not sure how that works when fees have already been paid for the academic year?

Not necessarily. It could be introduced for new entrants in 2025 while existing students stay on the old regime. That's how previous increases were managed.

But no word on successive increases, as indicated by the leaks.

You know that the fees include a load more that the contact teaching time though right 🙄

I still wouldn't have paid fees for that little!

A third of my cohort left at the end of the first term we were so unimpressed. I stayed till 5 weeks into second term and left the day before my funding would be affected.